Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

At the beginning of May, when they heard that the main force of the Khitan army was coming, all the troops of the Zhou army spread out in the wilderness north of Zhuoshui, waiting for work at leisure.

Guo Shao's cavalry is located in the rear of the middle road, and it seems that they cannot participate in the battle... because he is not leading the main force of the cavalry. The first main force of the cavalry is the iron cavalry under Zhao Kuangyin;

At that time, Chai Rong was in the center on horseback, and all the generals gathered around the emperor for a while. Chai Rong looked around the generals on a high horse and said, "The Northern Expedition is here to fight! This victory will take away the land of Youyun. Let's encourage each other!"

All the generals bid farewell one after another, and rode away from the Chinese army one after another to return to the barracks.

When Guo Shao returned to the army, several Hu Jie generals also gathered to talk, so he could only say: "We will wait for the result later."

After several years of preparation, the vigorous Northern Expedition finally reached the most critical step. But Guo Shao didn't need to take any responsibility in this battle; this kind of field battle was the cavalry's home field, and he seemed to be used to attack the city in the emperor's mind.

The people had no choice but to get off their horses, and in order to save horsepower, they stood by the horses and waited in line. The horseshoes roared in front, and countless war horses were mobilizing. From a distance, Guo Shao felt as if he was in the African plains, and countless wild animals were migrating.

The sound of fighting came from afar, but they couldn't see where the battlefield was. It seemed that fighting was happening everywhere in the north.

In the afternoon, countless wounded soldiers and horses were transported back from the main road. The battle situation should be very tragic. The large group of cavalry near the central army did not move all day. At dusk, Guo Shao received an order to move all the way to the Zhuo River to set up camp.

That night, he went to the camp of the Chinese army with other generals, only to see that two generals were injured, one of them was wrapped with a white cloth with colorful colors on his shoulder, it should be Zhang Guanghan, the commander of the left wing of Long Jie's army, Guo Shao was not familiar with him.

Zhang Yongde said: "In today's battle, the strength of the Liao army is still there. Both wings attack our army at the same time. There is no way to advance and retreat... The Liao army has more cavalry than us. I am afraid that if we fight for a long time, we will not be able to win."

Zhao Kuangyin and others also had no intention of fighting, and everyone did not compete to ask for a fight. The morale can be seen from the atmosphere.

Chai Rong's complexion was very bad, as if he was angry. Respond to the generals not to die, and want to lead the cavalry to fight tomorrow. Shi Yanchao immediately asked to play forward, and Chai Rong followed his request.

Early the next morning, the two armies fought again. Shi Yanchao led the cavalry from the middle road to rush into the Liao army's formation, and rushed into the enemy camp. He saw the Liao cavalry on the plain like a vast ocean;

Most of Zhou Jun's Cavalry Army, Crane Army, and Hu Jie Army were forced to attack from the left and right wings to prevent Shi Yanchao's troops from falling into a tight siege, and rushed back and forth until dusk. In the end, more than half of Shi Yanchao's subordinates lost their combat effectiveness and returned without success.

That night, when Guo Shao and other generals were called to the camp of the Chinese army, Chai Rong's expression was already very depressed, it was hard to describe his expression...as if he had aged ten years suddenly.

Chai Rong made a decisive decision and ordered the rear army to retreat to the south of Zhuoshui early tomorrow morning. He also ordered Guo Shao and Zhang Guanghan to return to Zhuozhou and Gu'an to deploy defense along the Zhuo River; let them respond to the army and stop the Liao army from pursuing troops.

The situation is already very bad. It seems that the decisive battle between Da Zhou and the Liao army has nothing to gain, and there is no hope of winning... Otherwise, with Chai Rong's mood, he would definitely not want to give up.

Early the next morning, Guo Shao, together with Zhang Guanghan, the captain of the left wing of the Long Jie Army, left the battlefield first, crossed the Zhuo River, led the army to build a camp on the river bank, and deployed troops in formation to wait.

As expected, that night. Suddenly, a group of horsemen came from the wilderness in the north, which was the retreating force of the Zhou army's main force. The Zhou army seems to have left the battlefield when the Liao army was retreating at night...all were soldiers on horseback, and most of the vehicles were missing, probably thrown away.

...

After the troops from all walks of life crossed the Zhuo River, there were well-organized elite guards stationed on the river bank, and the troops were a little safe. All the troops camped from the Zhuo River to the Qigou Pass.

When retreating hastily, the army caused confusion, and the morale of the army was low for a while. However, the Zhou Dynasty did not actually suffer a loss, occupying a lot of places, and the main force did not suffer major losses.

It was night, and there was no news of the pursuit of the Liao army. It was getting late, and the generals ordered to camp and rest on the spot, so as not to cause more confusion due to poor light.

In the big tent of the cavalry army, Zhao Kuangyin asked the generals to return to restrain their subordinates. Staff member Zhao Pu didn't leave, and sat on the side without saying a word, as if he wanted to say something. Kuangyin turned away from the left and right, and talked with him at night by candlelight.

"The Northern Expedition is really a pity. Don't blame me for not working hard. There is really no good chance to make a breakthrough." Zhao Kuangyin said first.

Zhao Pu said in a deep voice: "My lord, this is not the time to take care of the Northern Expedition... It is already difficult for the officials to ride horses today, and they can only cross Zhuo River by force."

At that time, Zhao Kuangyin and others were not by the emperor's side, so they couldn't help but make a questioning tone of "oh".

Zhao Pu said: "After the tribes passed Zhuo River, they were afraid that the Liao army would chase them all night, so they tried their best to run south. But the officials stopped at the river bank, I guess they just couldn't run..."

Zhao Kuangyin said nothing.

"Guo Shao has a deep grudge with the Zhao family. He belongs to Queen Fu and married the queen's sister; therefore, Queen Fu and the lord are not on the same side." Zhao Pu whispered, his head wearing a cape cast a shadow on the tent under the light of the candle.

He continued: "My lord is a general in command of the front of the palace, so he must not be trusted by the queen. The situation is in danger in the future, so we must investigate."

Zhao Kuangyin remained silent, Zhao Pu didn't need to talk about these joints, he knew it already. It's just that there is no way to take the other party for a while.

At this moment, Zhao Pu said: "I have a plan. Didn't Guo Shao lead the tiger army to defend the left side of the Zhuo River? My lord can go to the official's house and use the reason of occupying the bridgehead north of the Juma River to let Guo Shao stay in Zhuozhou to guard, and don't let him go back to Beijing."

When Zhao Kuangyin heard this, he immediately became interested. He didn't say anything just now, and immediately said: "Zhuozhou has no danger to rely on, so it's not good to keep it for a long time."

Zhao Pu said: "The strength of Zhou's army has not been greatly damaged, and the time for the expedition is not too long. I guess the officials are still unwilling, but now the army has no fighting spirit and will not continue the Northern Expedition for the time being... But he must still be thinking about Youzhou.

My lord, you can say that I will retreat for the time being, and after we take a short rest in the imperial court, I will choose another opportunity to march northward for the second time. The officials will be very happy to hear that the lord supports his Northern Expedition! At this time, you said that Zhuozhou should be defended first, which can directly threaten Youzhou and reduce the setbacks of the second Northern Expedition. Most officials will listen to you. "

Zhao Pu's voice became smaller and smaller, and he said quietly: "The person that the queen protects in the imperial army is Guo Shao who is married to the Fu family. As long as Guo Shao is not in Tokyo, the situation will be beneficial and harmless to us; no matter what we plan to do in the future, we should be more calm."

Zhao Kuangyin nodded slightly, and suddenly felt that Zhao Pu had a good idea... This method is very low-cost and almost no risk;

The aides were not wrong at all. Zhao Kuangyin and Zhang Yongde persuaded the emperor not to advance rashly before, in order to cherish the military power of the Zhou Dynasty, but it was very troublesome for the emperor to persuade the emperor to go to the Northern Expedition. If he expressed his attitude to support the second Northern Expedition this time, the general would be happy if he expressed his attitude.

Zhao Kuangyin thought about it, and felt that this plan was easy to succeed and very feasible. Immediately, I couldn't help brushing Zhao Pu's back, and said kindly: "I lost a brother, but I always treat you as my own brother."